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Fabienne Larouche makes a lot of the magic happen behind the scenes on the TV sitcom and drama front, and is the creator of many popular shows. Here’s where she’s different and why she’s being mentioned… If I were to ask many of you who was the creator of the wildly popular NBC show “Friends”, you likely wouldn’t know. However, if you were to ask many Québécois who created the popular sitcoms and dramas (both past and some present) Virginie, Unité 9, 30 vies, Trauma, Fortier, and Les Bougons, a chuck of the people would recognize Fabienne Larouche’s name.

As we saw in our earlier series on Montréwood, many of those working behind the scenes are celebrities in their own right. There seems to be a collective appreciation by society for those who bring the screen to life; almost to the extent of gratitude and praise for helping to build and reinforce a society’s vibrant culture.

As a writer and producer, Larouche has been involved in many more television productions that just those mentioned above (which have been among some of the most popular programs in evening television during the last decade).

With four main television networks, writing or directing for one television show probably wouldn’t change the world. But if you have written, directed, or played a major hand in the creation of 25 of some of the most popular and best known evening sitcoms and dramas spread across the main networks – all in a 20 year span – then you’ve left your mark on television, the direction it takes, and what society expects in terms of entertainment. Those are pretty big shoes to fill!

Surprisingly, we don’t see Larouche very often on screen herself. But her face is recognizable to many in the industry, and those who know her programs. However, if a new program comes out, and you know it was Larouche who created it, you’re going to pay attention.

Shows which will be airing for the fall 2014 season are:

30 vie (Radio-Canada)

Unité 9 (Radio-Canada)

These two programs will be broadcast on Radio-Canada’s fall season across Canada. See if you can catch them (Tou.tv also has online streaming).

An Anecdote: Some of Larouche’s programs are now showing on television in France. One of them, Fortier is actually being “dubbed” from Québec French to France French (I was surprised to learn this). You’ll sometimes hear Québécois say people in France occasionally have difficultly understanding a Québec accent. I can only assume this is because the program in question has heavy bouts of Joual, a colloquial way of speaking in Québec which is not familiar to those in France. This is probably a good way to lead to the next post which will be on Joual.